By Consultants Review Team
Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, experienced a significant surge in its 4G/5G user base in November, adding 3.98 million subscribers—its highest in 27 months. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) reported a total of 379.8 million subscribers, with Airtel's wireless broadband reaching 255.07 million, compared to 251.1 million in October. The notable increase follows a month of minimal additions in October, attributed to an industry-wide rise in subscriber numbers and a shift from 2G to 4G/5G.
However, Airtel faced a decline in active subscribers for the second consecutive month, losing 432,941 users in November, bringing the active subscriber count to 374.52 million. Despite this, the overall subscriber addition, including 2G services, amounted to 1.7 million, totaling 379.8 million by November's end.
Market leader Jio maintained its lead in subscriber additions, welcoming 3.45 million users in November, surpassing October's 3.1 million additions. Jio's total subscriber base reached 455.81 million. Vodafone Idea also rebounded, gaining 0.96 million 4G subscribers in November, compared to a loss of 830,000 in October. However, Vodafone Idea continued to face an overall net loss of mobile users for 32 months, losing over 1 million users in November, totaling 224.4 million.
The overall subscriber base in the country witnessed a substantial increase, reaching 1.154 billion, marking the highest surge in 2.5 years. In the 4G segment, the three major telecom operators collectively added 8.4 million subscribers, totaling 837.52 million by November's end.
While Airtel's market share slightly increased to 32.91%, Jio's share rose to 39.49%, and Vodafone Idea's share decreased to 19.44%. State-owned BSNL faced a decline in subscribers for the 23rd consecutive month, losing 938,846 active subscribers and bringing its base to 91.9 million.
The overall active subscriber base increased by 468,150 in November, with 90.62% of the total 1.154 billion subscribers considered active. Vodafone Idea added 133,035 active subscribers, while Jio contributed 1.2 million, reaching an active user base of 423.3 million by November's end.